Online shopping - one delivery then no more to my address they say !

I get that they need to keep the slots for the shielded group in the first instance and for those who are self-isolating although there should be some form of registration for that second group, both to offer help and to stop anyone using the status unreasonably.

I am actually unsure where those who are simply over 70. We kept hearing that we were going to be asked to isolate - but is that what has happened? It seems not. So we can go shopping? Or not? Perhaps it needs some clarification.

A friend of mine hasnt been able to get an online slot for weeks from Morrisons, shes tried phoning but its all automated messages and then cuts off.

PS GracesGranMK3

I was whole-heatedly agreeing with your being horrified at the attitude of ungrateful, selfish customers yelling at Supermarket staff. These Staff are doing a great service coming in to work to help people have the food and essential items they need. Well done for mentioning it!

Thanks for the suggestion, Chestnut.

To be totally honest, one of our sons can get us bits and bobs if necessary, but as he and dil are already struggling, with working from home and keeping the children occupied, plus are limited to how many essential items they can buy when they do their own shopping, I don't want to ask for their help unless I absolutely have to (though I wouldn't dream of asking anyone else while this option exists).

Online shopping is the obvious answer for us, and hopefully will see us through the next few weeks, assuming my existing orders come, but after that, who knows.
We are currently two and a half weeks through a three and a half week wait for our first order to be delivered, so all the 'emergency' bread and milk that I had in the freezer will be gone by the time that comes, and can't be replenished in the near future.

Right now, I just keep reminding myself that there are a lot of people in a much worse position.

GracesGranMK3
It's kind of you to say it may be you but I'm sure it is I (now I'm dying to say "Le Clerc", - from 'All 'Allo). Start again: It's almost certainly my garbled explanation GracesGranMK3 and not you! I am I fear to say, known for long and complicated sentences for which I apologise and will try to do better! Plus - excuses tut tut - my laptop jumps backwards in the text and prints garbled things I haven't had time to see. Anyway, whatever I said, unless it was take care of yourself and try not to worry, just ignore me! I was exhausted when I woke up yesterday and by the evening I was useless!

I do hope you are getting on as well as possible and that the situation isn't pulling you down.

To all who are under house arrest house-bound and unable to get deliveries I pray an angel will come to you soon.

MamaCaz - you need to find someone local who can deliver your groceries. There are lots of volunteer groups set up for that purpose. If you Google 'next door app' you will find a networking group called Next Door and you can find someone local through that.

And getting a slot has suddenly got a whole lot harder.
Last night, I stayed up until after midnight to try to book a delivery for the latest available date (Tesco).
The second the new slots came up, I tried to book one, but it was already too late - nothing happened when I tried to select a slot, and then the 'no slots available' message came up again almost instantly.
I wonder if they had already been reserved for those already identified as vulnerable, and only showed up momentarily as available while the info was still being through their computers?

Why is it still ok to shop for goods online causing delivery men to go house to house up and down the country when retail shops have been closed? Surely you are not a key worker if you’re delivering a dress or a rug? I think online retailers should have been told to close if they are not on the Governments list of shops allowed to stay open. This is going to be the final death nell to our high streets.

Sensible, but problematic too.

We live 4 miles from the nearest shop of any kind. There is no public transport. Right now, the car is dodgy - what are we supposed to do?

Add to that the fact that OH is in his 70s and terrified of getting this virus, so although I am younger, he doesn't want me to go anywhere in case I inadvertently bring the virus back to the house with me? However careful one is, that risk is real.

For these reasons, I have had to agree to self-isolate with him, but this would be totally impossible without online grocery shopping, so where does that leave us if we can't do that?

The MD of Iceland seemed to be making a lot of sense this morning. It sounds to me as if the government just threw the shopping challenges at the Supermarkets without any understanding of the then-current level of online shopping.

His (the MD) idea that the slots should be left for those who cannot or should not come out and others should have to shop while they build up the systems seems very sensible.

I managed to get a TESCO delivery last week but half the order was missing can't get a delivery slot for weeks to come managed a click and collect for Easter ! Tried to get a Morrisons box every day this week no luck I have just placed an order with a local convenience type store and it is being delivered tomorrow -free of charge likewise an order with a local butcher This could be the lifeline many of us need #supportlocalshopssupportinglocalpeople

Hope this might help some of those that are not used to online shopping. Once you have your slot, you must check out within a certain amount of time (usually 3 hours - but could have changed) or that slot is not guaranteed. It is held for the 3 hours then released. You can go back in and amend the order as often as you like up to (usually) 11pm the night before delivery - but they will tell you that. If you forget to check out the amended order, they will deliver the unattended one. You can check out with just a few things in your basket to reserve the slot, but you must check out.

We are in Perth WA where only the elderly or disabled people can get deliveries from the supermarkets. I spent the whole morning making out my order, entered delivery address and payment details, but when I tried to submit all this information...nothing ? I tried several times to no avail, so just went out to a different shop for necessities. So frustrating.

Thank you Tillybelle for your kind words. Early days with the treatment but hoping that this one works. for you after your hectic day

I got an email from Sainsbury's this morning to tell me that they had free slots for the rest of the week, and they had prioritised vulnerable customers, so were releasing the remaining slots to delivery pass holders (of which I am one) first, before opening them to the general public.

There were restrictions. I can't order again for a while, and there is a limit of three similar items, which is a pain, as it means I can't order for friends to save slots for others.

My order is coming on Sunday, so we'll see what is in stock, but it does look like things are getting back to normal.

I thought you had to phone supermarkets ( at least Sainsburys) and tell them your age or vulnerability and then they have on record and find you a slot. Before my mother did this she wasn’t getting anywhere !! Even last time HSBC messed up her verification and she lost the slot but thank God for another. I told her to at least get extra packets of pasta , rice, oats etc to stay well ahead in case anything goes awry. I’m in Germany and it’s all pretty normal but no deliveries.

That's lovely NanaandGrampy.

And out of the blue, Sainsburys emailed me , told me I was vulnerable and gave me a slot for Saturday !

Now I know what’s happening I did a monthly shop so will only need milk ( from the milkman) and fresh bread and fruit which we can get delivered by our village store .

I feel a lot better now . Hope everyone else gets a good resolution too x

Even with the correction, I don't understand Tillybelle but that probably says more about me than you.

sharon103 Thank you for the heads up on the queue being shorter in the evening. It was saying no slots so perhaps they update that in the morning if anyone has cancelled.

Errrr.... whoops!

GracesGranMK3

I think you did not say "o o .... etc

You said:
I am quite horrified at the attitude....

The delivery companies had not expected the whole country to suddenly start online shopping so were caught out. They told people off for having multiple drops to the same address in the same week. Many selfish people. I am happy that my local little Co-op is selling things that I want. We are just buying a couple of things at a visit. But poor staff are right close to customers and have no protective equipment. Very vulnerable and I guess so are we.

GracesGranMK3
You said o o be as helpful as they can. tc.

You and me both!

Alternative.y, there are those lovely people who are trying to be as helpful as they can. It is bringing forward a lot of human kindness and a great deal of unselfish courage, our Medical Staff being the most obvious but behind them are food Providers from farm to fork, transport enablers, people in the Banks, Sewage workers, the list is endless.
Indeed my Dustbin Men are due tomorrow so I must attend to that.

Night night and sleep well.

Nanny27. Just to say I didn't take your "rant" as being against those of us frustrated by the ordering slot fiasco, and even that is. in my humble op. due to the ppl who greedily booked multi slots and those who cheated, and of course many who booked who can walk round a store anyway... so the websites crashed and left us House-Bounders without food.
Phew! That sentence left me out of breath!
Just wanted to say Nanny27 I know what you mean! I am very appreciative of the Staff in my local supermarket and have been since before this pandemic. People who are going in to work right now are being very unselfish and are helping us in more ways than meets the eye. The economy for one.

I had a scary letter from my car insurance today saying my DDebit was refused and would I pay it all. I usually pay it all in one go but just had to change vehicle suddenly and didn't have the ready cash. Anyway, when I spoke to first one person she said "that's odd we haven't asked for the first payment yet" and then Mo asked his Boss and it turned out to be the insurance on my previous vehicle, which I no longer own and had informed them! I forgot I was paying that monthly this time because of the shenanigans with the awful builder... But imagine how distraught I would have been if nobody had gone in to work and answered my call........ Although I am in isolation, should an emergency arise, I would still drive my car.

Daisyboots. I hope your treatment is going well and you are keeping well

In case anyone misunderstood, I'm frustrated with the person(s) at the topmost - i.e. the CEO, of Tesco who did not recognise that I was pointing out that I could not obtain a delivery slot and could neither get to the store, but then they wrote back to me and told me to go to the Store.....
'
Latest news, Chloe from Tesco, thinks as follows:
"Thank you for your email addressed to Dave Lewis. I have made Dave aware of your email and have been asked to respond to you on his behalf.
I am so sorry to learn you have been getting abused online by members of the public after you shared a post on Facebook." and she went on to say that the Staff in store had to put up with it all the time.
In case you at GN are unaware - I had never once mentioned being abused on facebook and am unaware that I ever have been.
My response:
"Am I getting abuse from the public following my facebook post? Your comment ...... is the first I have heard of this.
I have read many social media posts complaining about the behaviour of many of the public at Supermarkets and I am aware that the Staff are having a terribly unfair and horrible time because of these ignorant and selfish people."

I wrote to the CEO because of the eternal Kafka-esk torture which took me two afternoons to find I cannot get a delivery slot despite my "free month" followed by my 6 paid up months. Delivery is my only means of getting food to my house because I am house bound by the rules of the virus; I am over 70 and in the at risk group with underlying conditions. I also live alone and am disabled. I learned that people are making multi bookings when they book their delivery slots and that some are booking in more than one name for the same household to get double deliveries. These were people who are able to go out shopping for themselves anyway."

I hope by copying my correspondence with Tesco to you here, anybody who works at Tesco will see I am not at all unhappy with the Supermarket Staff or Delivery people, quite the opposite. In fact I have posted my praise of my local Tesco Staff online twice.

I was frustrated at my housebound and unable to get a delivery letter being interpreted as
1. Come to the Store yourself
2. Sorry that people on facebook said nasty things to you (but they do it to us all the time)

These two responses have left me absolutely miffed! I really don't know who answers the CEO's emails, but they don't understand "housebound", and Chloe Stewart, Customer Service Specialist, on behalf of the Chief Executive’s Office, must have looked me up on facebook because that's the only way she could find out if I were receiving nasty comments since I did not know anything about it. Actually I haven't looked to see - on facebook that is.

I have seen many posts today from people about terrible behaviour of the public. I was sent these on an email from a friend. One is an ICU nurse from Sheffield saying how awful people were at the supermarket and that an 83 (?) yr old lady was queuing to go in because she could not get deliveries and when she, the Nurse, asked if the elderly lady might be let through, the people ganged up against her. People were there with mum, dad and two children each with their own trolley!

Maybe the madness will end one day. Maybe it is a conspiracy to kill off the old and infirm. But don't tell anyone - we're much tougher than they realise!

It was sunny in the garden today. My dogs would like to share a musical ballad or two with the dog two gardens away in Italian style. I tried to explain that it sounds like shouting to humans. They didn't understand.